Villagers left without water for two days when frozen pipes burst were 'badly let down' by their water supplier, regulators have ruled.

Ofwat has released a new report into Severn Trent's handling of the 'Beast from the East' cold snap in March, when pipes froze and burst.

Sudbury and Doveridge residents were left without supply for around two days, while others in the Ashbourne area had no water for five.

Ofwat chief executive Rachel Fletcher said in the report: "We have heard stories of real disruption to people's lives: radio silence on what was happening, businesses shut down and customers forced to make long journeys to pick up bottled water.

"Many customers were left to fend for themselves, with local bodies and volunteers having to fill the gap.

He later met with the firm's chief executive, Liv Garfield, to call for measures to improve its response in the future.

After the report was released, he said: "We believed at the time that if they had worked more closely with our expert emergency planning officers, residents would have been kept better informed and had faster access to emergency water stations."